The focus group discussion guide began with a description of a hypothetical WGS study involving parents and children. Participants were asked via a verbal poll at the start and end of the focus group session if they would or would not be willing to participate in such a study and if they would or would not be willing to consent for a child to participate in such a study. Participants’ verbal poll responses were recorded by a research assistant and tabulated. The polling data provides a snapshot of the opinions in the room, however because polling was done verbally there is the possibility that the results may have been influenced by group bias. The moderator then gave a brief overview of genetics and introduced four key concepts about WGS including: (1) the scope of results information that could be available; (2) that knowledge about variants will change over time such that in the future additional results could be available; (3) that the interpretation of results could change over time (e.g., the clinical utility of a variant or lack thereof could
